BRUSSELS: The Facebook scandal has laid bare the urgency of protecting personal information in a digital "jungle," the EU's justice minister said before new European data rules become law. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entering force on May 25 sets down the rights of individuals, such as one where they explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg himself conceded the GDPR's importance after research firm Cambridge Analytica plundered the personal data of tens of millions of the social network's users for the 2016 US presidential election. She sees the EU as a benchmark for data protection. Member countries must accept a larger role for their data protection authorities who will be central to guaranteeing the rules are applied.

Source: Bangkok Post May 15, 2018 02:15 UTC